Author Archives: Steve Coomes

Steve Coomes

Steve Coomes is a Louisville restaurant industry veteran turned food writer. In his 22-year career, he has edited and written for dozens of national trade and consumer publications including Nation's Restaurant News and Southern Living. A past restaurant critic and food feature writer for Louisville magazine, he pens features for Edible Louisville magazine and is online editor for Food & Dining Magazine. He also serves as ghostwriter for multiple companies in the restaurant segment.

The Oakroom to host Great Gatsby movie and dinner June 1-2

Great Gatsby

It’s hard to go to high school in Louisville and not have to read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic, “The Great Gatsby,” since there are so many local references made in the book. The book begins with military man and main character Jay Gatsby stationed at Camp Taylor, whose barracks were turned into apartments now called [...]

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Steve Coomes: Time for Louisville restaurant servers to match the skills of their kitchen counterparts

Restaurant server

While in Chicago last weekend at the National Restaurant Association show, I quickly remembered why that city is one of my favorites: it is a service-minded town. Granted, taxi drivers are not talkative like Chicago cabbies used to be, and I miss that. But at every other point of service contact made in my brief 24-hour [...]

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Steve Coomes: Six distilled spirits you want to sip now and store for later

Few-gin-small

Last week, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States brought about a dozen writers to town for the last stop on a 10-day tour of what it calls America’s Whiskey Trail. Kentucky is a fitting end, don’t you think? The writers’ tour ended with a Crafts, Cocktails & Bluegrass party at the Distilled Spirits Epicenter  on [...]

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Secular outrage over LACES formation is overheated, understudied and misinterpreted

Church_State

(Full disclosure: I am a Bible believing non-denominational Christian. I spent the first 18 years of my life growing up Catholic, yet never truly accepting many of its core tenets. I followed that with 12 years what could fairly be described as heathenism before, at age 30, accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior. I am [...]

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Zoning approval puts Beer Engine back on track for 2013 opening

Zeppelin Cafe

Following a lengthy zoning approval process, Beer Engine, a craft brewery in Danville Kentucky, is back on track for 2013 opening in Germantown. Last summer, owner Brian Holton set about launching the business in what formerly was The Zeppelin Café at 1036 East Burnette. But, all progress came to a halt when Holton was told [...]

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More than 200 beers to taste at Highlands Beer Festival May 18

HighlandsBeerFestivalLogo_2

Think you’ve tasted lots of beers? Then you might find next Saturday’s Highland’s Beer Festival a brew brush-up. At current count, vendors and breweries will be pouring tastes of 213 beers (from about 60 breweries), a sampling impossible to manage in the 5-9 p.m. time period for sure, but we’re sure a few will give [...]

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Chef Tyler Powell leaving St. Charles Exchange to captain kitchen at Silver Dollar

Tyler Powell, current executive chef, St. Charles Exchange, soon to be chef at The Silver Dollar.

My, what a difference a month makes. That’s how long Tyler Powell was executive chef at St. Charles Exchange before announcing he’ll leave May 22 to take charge of kitchen at The Silver Dollar. Powell got the St. Charles post in April in the wake of the departure of then executive chef Patrick McCandless. According [...]

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Restaurant news: Quattro closes for ‘reset’; Meat could spoil Blind Pig; Martini adding location and Lynn’s for sale

Quattro isn't closed, it's conducting a two-day "reset."

Kentucky Derby Week is hell on restaurant crews. Just ask Matt Saltzman, CEO of Pallas Partners, which owns Quattro on Fourth Street Live. The restaurant closed Monday and Tuesday to get its bearings before a scheduled reopening Wednesday night. “Derby week was the most hellacious experience I’ve ever seen,” Saltzman said. “So we closed for two days to [...]

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Classy-casual Sidebar at Whiskey Row opens to public ahead of May 14 grand opening

Sidebar signage

  I go to a lot of soft openings/pre-openings/VIP receptions/previews/peeks … whatever you want to call them … before a restaurant officially takes off the wraps, and I sometimes leave those events thinking, “This one’s not long for this world.” I harbor no such thoughts about Sidebar at Whiskey Row, which smartly conducted several private [...]

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